“Which means you like her.”
“Yeah, maybe. We’ll see.”
I turn to Dallas. “So does it start today? What’s your line? Try it out on me.”
“I can’t just say it. I need to work it into the conversation.”
The bells rings, reminding us it's time to head to our first class.
"I'll walk over and refill my coffee. You come up to me and say it.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “Fine.”
“Wait,” Riley says. “I’m going to get coffee with her. I gotta hear this.”
Riley and I wander up to the coffee thermoses, refill our cups, and then turn to walk to class.
Dallas saunters up next to me. He’s wearing a very cute smile. It's the smile I noticed the first day, when I decided to go sit by him. He stops and lays his hand gently on my forearm.
I stop walking and give him a confused look.
He grins at me and says, “I just have to ask. Did you have Lucky Charms for breakfast this morning?”
"Uh, no. Why?"
"Cuz you look magically delicious.”
I can’t help it. I grin back at him and laugh. Because if I didn’t have a boyfriend, I would totally fall for that.
“I didn’t have Lucky Charms,” I say, “but now I wish I would have. You should say that to Katie today. It’d probably melt her panties off.”
Riley hits Dallas on the back as he walks off to his first class. "I thought that was pretty lame.”
"Only because you didn't think of it first." They both laugh, then Riley turns to me. "So I hear you asked Ariela to go shopping with you. Now Dallas and I will be stuck here alone."
"Why don't you go to Columbia with Dawson?”
"Dawson is going to Columbia?" He raises his eyebrows at me.
"Yeah."
"And you're okay with that?"
"Uh, I think so. Should I not be okay with that?”
"Camden is . . . well, he's trouble."
"Trouble, how?"
"I know what goes on there. Cam knows a lot of girls. Gets a lot of girls."
I squint my eyes trying to follow. Then I realize what he's not saying and my eyes get big. "You think he's going to cheat on me?"
"Cam is an awesome brother, but he can be a dick. All I ever wanted was to be like him." He sighs. "Part of why I got kicked out of school."
"You need to tell me what happened."
"I was told to never speak of it again," he says seriously.
"By who?"
"The dean."
"Oh. So you can't tell me?"
"Maybe some other time." He laughs. "It's a pretty epic story, really. I can't believe I'm sitting here saying all this. What the hell did you do to me?"
"What I did to you?"
"Yeah, I'm turning into Dawson. Pussy whipped but getting no pussy."
I smile at him. "You like Ariela. She's going to be so excited tonight. I can't wait."
"It was cool of you to ask her to go shopping with you. I'd like it if you were friends."
"I know. That's why I asked. So you really think your brother is going to cheat on me? He's, um, not really in the same situation as you."
Riley punches my shoulder. "He's whipped, all right."
I nod my head. "I meant the other part."
“Unfortunately, he’s been rubbing that part in. Not details. Just how hot you make him, that kind of thing. Although he’s not very excited about you may be doing the play. I heard you got called back to read with Jake and Logan."
“I did. Jake and I have good chemistry on stage and Logan seems to kind of hate me, which, really, is perfect for the part. He’s going to pretend to like me just to screw things up for his brother. Getting a callback is exciting, but I still don’t know if I’ll get the part.”
Winning runs in the family.
History
During history, our classroom is paged and I’m called to the office.
Everyone in class goes, Ooooohhhh. Like I did something I’m about to get in trouble for.
As I put my notebook into my bag, my mind starts to go crazy thinking about what I’ve possibly done wrong.
I’ve never gotten in trouble at school.
Except Aiden causing me to be late those two times.
Do they know Dawson sneaks into my room? Do they know we party at Hawthorne House after curfew? Do they know I smoke at the Cave?
I get to the office and say to the secretary, “I’m Keatyn Monroe. You called me out of class?”
Peyton steps out from behind a cubicle. “Oh, that was me. I need your help on some of this after-party stuff. I didn’t think you would mind getting out of class.”
I smile at the secretary, trying to assure her that I wasn’t the least bit nervous.
Peyton loops her arm through mine and says loudly, “We’re going to my dorm so that we can make some phone calls in peace.”
As we walk by the big trophy cases out front, she stops and points at some photos. “These are all the past Homecoming Kings and Queens. Isn’t that cool? I love looking at the dresses and hairstyles and how they’ve changed over the years.”
I study the photos, going back to the early 40s. “They are very cool. I like this dress especially.” I point to the winner from four years ago. She’s wearing a gorgeous but simply cut pale pink gown. “Clarke?” I look at her closer. “Is she related to Whitney?”
Peyton nods. “That’s her older sister, Winnie Clarke. Isn’t she gorgeous? She was captain of the dance team too.” She points at two other photos a couple years further back. “And these are her brothers.”
“So winning runs in the family?”
“Yeah. Part of why she acts like she’s entitled to win.”
“I love her sister’s gown. Is Whitney’s that pretty?”
Peyton laughs. “I guess that all depends on what you consider pretty. Come on. We better get going.”
As soon as we walk out of the building, she says, “I lied. The event coordinator is handling most of the after-party stuff. I thought maybe we could go to my room and look at dresses online. The dress is a big part of the tradition. Did you notice how all the dresses were very subtle? Very classy?”
“Yeah, and I read the flyer with all the rules regarding the dress.”
“Everyone who was nominated is either a cheerleader or a dancer. We’ll change into our dresses right before halftime, but Whitney will wear hers for the entire game. Want to see a picture of Whitney’s dress?”
“Sure,” I say. I’m sure it’s going to be gorgeous.
We get to her room and she pulls up a photo of Whitney’s dress on her laptop. “So this is hers. What do you think of it?”
I look at the dress. It’s a strapless nude-colored gown with a high slit up one leg. The entire bodice down to just above the knee is encrusted with very large multi-colored pastel jewels. Past the knee, the jewels are sprinkled sparsely down the nude colored mesh.
“Wow. It’s, um, pretty bold. It looks more like a pageant dress to me. But it’s hard to tell until you see it on.”
“It’s way over the top. Especially when you consider the way they want us to look. Wait ’til you see mine.”
She clicks the mouse and up pops a photo of Peyton in a fully beaded gown. I can’t help it. I start laughing. “You look like you should be turning letters on a game show, not wearing a Homecoming crown!”
She giggles with me. “That’s why I’m so excited to go shopping with you. I want a dress that’s me. This is not me. And it weighs about ten pounds.”
“I think that’s why Whitney’s choice is such a shock. She dresses so conservatively. I’m surprised she would buy something like that.”
“She said she wants to stand out.”
“You stand out when a dress enhances your beauty. You have to wear the dress. The dress can’t wear you. That’s why so many people choose their Academy Awards dresses wrong. They look at the dress’s beauty, not their beauty in the dress.”
Peyton gives me a mega-watt smile. One that is identical to her brother’s.
“Exactly. That’s exactly what I want.”
She clicks around and shows me some dresses she’s found online. Shows me a list of stores she’d like to go to.
I show her the dress that I ordered last night online.
“Oh, Keatyn, that dress is so you. It’s traditional, but the red is just a little more watermelon and the cutouts on the bodice are a really unique detail. It’s really pretty.”